


The Greatest of These

by MechBull



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 10:30:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10852128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MechBull/pseuds/MechBull
Summary: Elena rescues Mack from the Framework.





	The Greatest of These

**Author's Note:**

> My first and probably last non-FitzSimmons AOS fic. Not sure I did any of these characters justice but...I wrote this because I'm afraid the writers won't.

“Hey Dad!”

“Yeah, Spark Plug?”

“Look at this!” 

Mack looked up from the tech in his hand to watch Hope’s performance. Walking on her tiptoes backwards wasn’t the most impressive thing she’s ever done, so he took it as a sign that she was tired of being ignored. Hearing Trip chuckle next to him, Mack glanced over. 

“Think she’s bored?” 

Trip nodded, then held his hand out. Mack gave him the tech before pushing off the table.

“What do you say we go get some ice cream?”

“Yeah!”

“Bring me back some,” Trip called out. 

Mack waved behind him in acknowledgment as he and Hope rounded the corner and headed towards the base’s kitchen.

“Why can’t I help?”

“With what?”

“With the Patriot uniform! You know I could do some of that stuff a lot better than you.”

“Hey, now. Not cool.”

“Well…it’s true.”

“Come on, sweetie. You know I don’t want you involved in this stuff. I want things to be as normal as possible for you.” 

Hope sighed loudly, and Mack looked down at her. He couldn’t get over how much he loved her, even when she was being stubborn and a bit snotty. He couldn’t get over how smart and funny and talented she was.

He couldn’t get over how real she seemed.

**

Hydra fell surprisingly easy. Once Madam Hydra and the Doctor were gone, with Agent May having defected and then disappeared, even with Alistair Fitz dead, there was a power vacuum and the Resistance, led by the new Patriot, took them down easily.

But that didn’t make things suddenly safe and easy again. Inhuman refugees still needed places to live, places where there wasn’t lingering prejudice not so simply destroyed. It was when Mack was helping resettle one family in Colombia that he met a woman that caught his attention. 

It was the look she gave him, mostly. An expression that seemed as if she knew him already. Mack walked up to her. He didn’t recognize her, of course, but he was suspicious enough to keep this conversation as quiet as possible.

“Do I – do you know me?” he asked.

The woman beamed. “You remember me?”

Mack shook his head, and she lost her smile.

“I’m Elena,” she said. “And yes, I know you.”

“You’re from…over there.”

“Yes.”

“I told Daisy already. I’m not coming back.”

“Because of Hope.”

“She needs me.”

“Oh, Turtle Man,” she replied, and Mack furrowed his brow in confusion over the name. “I think it’s you that needs her.”

“Either way,” he said, feeling defensive. 

“I’d like to meet her…if I can.”

“Why?”

“To see what might have – ” she shook her head quickly, as if refusing to admit something. “Because she must be really special.”

“She is. I love her more than anything.”

The woman – Elena – smiled, but it seemed far too sad. Mack wouldn’t let himself wonder how the other him knew her, why she came over, what she wouldn’t tell him. It didn’t matter.

Hope was all that mattered.

**

“Who is she?” Trip asked.

“I don’t know,” Mack responded.

Trip hummed, but didn’t say anything more. They both just watched as Elena played a game with a happily chattering Hope.

**

“She’s beautiful,” Elena commented from the doorway.

Mack didn’t acknowledge her at first. Instead, he focused on placing Hope onto the bed, carefully removing her shoes, and pulling the blanket over her. 

“Smart, too,” he finally said. 

“Can we talk?” 

Mack wanted to ignore her, but he knew the faster he got this over with, the faster she’d leave him and Hope alone in peace.

“Fine.” 

They went to a quiet corner of the base, where they’d be interrupted only by the whirring and rattling of the air supply system. He sat quietly, waiting for her to speak.

“Your body is dying,” she said. It wasn’t what he expected, and he looked up at her. “We can’t keep it alive much longer. It is only a matter of time before it gives out.”

“She’s my daughter. I’d gladly die for her.”

“I know. I know you would.”

“Do you have any kids?”

“No. I thought maybe someday. But no.”

“Would I remember her there? Would I remember losing her twice?”

Elena reached a hand out and covered his own. “I’m afraid so.”

“Then how could you ask me to go live in a world like that?”

She looked away and didn’t respond for a long moment. Mack watched as she reached up and played with the crucifix pendant of her necklace.

“Do you still have your faith?” she asked. “Do you still believe in God, in this godforsaken place?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then…Mack. The power to this place will eventually die. We don’t know when or how – it exists beyond just the machines you and the others were hooked up to. But it won’t last forever. You’ll just be lost.”

“I’ll be with her,” Mack replied stubbornly.

“Will you? Do you believe that? Do you think a computer program goes to heaven?”

Mack bent his head, rubbing quickly at his eyes with one hand.

“This place is false, a lie. It is not the life God gave you.”

“God took her from me!” Mack shouted. “If what you say is true, then – ”

“I don’t understand her death. I cannot imagine how you feel. But God gave her to you too. You know and I know that you will see your daughter – your…your real daughter – again. But you need to have faith. In Him. In me. In Hope. In the future. God does not want you to ignore reality and deny Him. He does not want you to throw away the gifts He gave you. He wants you to live, and then someday to live with Him and her.”

Mack buried his head in his arms, unable to listen to her anymore.

**

He inhaled a desperate breath, blinking rapidly and trying to catch his bearings. Machinery beeped loudly, and he looked frantically around him. He barely registered Coulson on one side of him and Daisy on the other, unhooking him and helping him out of the contraption. He nearly fell to his knees, but Elena caught him in a hug, supporting him on what appeared to be still-unsteady legs of her own.

“Welcome home, Turtle Man,” she whispered in his ear.

**

“We’re going to shut down the system now,” Jemma said softly. “Would you – would you like to be there?”

Mack thought for a second, then nodded. He stood and walked over to the console, standing just behind Daisy, Jemma and Fitz, who was still shocked from his own recent rescue. Mack wondered if Fitz would get as much closure out of destroying the Framework as Mack hoped he would himself. 

“Do you need a moment?” Daisy asked. “Do you need to say goodbye?”

“I already did there,” Mack replied, his voice noticeably rough. “Before Elena and I went to the new back door. I said goodbye to both of them.”

“He’ll take care of her,” Daisy comforted him. “If it somehow exists after we shut this down, he’ll take care of her.”

Mack nodded. “Do it now.”

Fitz glanced at him, exhaled a shaky breath, and pressed a button. It seemed far too simple in the end.

“I love you, Spark Plug,” Mack murmured.


End file.
